Cincinnati's Literary Heritage

This cultural history of Cincinnati explores how a love of books and reading transformed Ohio’s Queen City into a bibliophile’s paradise. Since its founding in 1788, Cincinnati has been home to lovers of books and reading. The early settlers swapped books with one another. By the early 1800s, civic leaders were envisioning the creation of a public library, and in 1814, the Circulating Library Society was founded. Other libraries followed, as did bookshops and stationers. These early social devel